Michael Buchanan ’80

Michael Buchanan ’80 passed away in his sleep March 22. Michael was born in Oakland, California, June 10, 1958, to Charlotte Stark Buchanan and Ralph Heath Reeves. Michael had a keen interest in computer science. After graduating from Kimberly High School he attended Dartmouth, where he was the first student to graduate with a degree in computer science. After graduating in 1980 he worked as a systems programmer at Hughes Aircraft. In 1985, he became an engineer at Basic Four, where he helped write one of the first commercially available operating systems, Basic. At Chips and Technologies, he helped develop another operating system in 1990 called Baby Dragons Boot DOS. He later worked for National Semiconductor and Sun Microsystems. In 1985 Michael married Karen Bergman, with whom he had children, Nicholas and Courtney. Michael and Karen later divorced, and Michael married Judy Sonzogni in 2018. Michael loved moving fast, whether it was skiing down steep slopes, riding motorcycles, or driving his Porsche in his 20s or later his Jaguar XK8. He is also remembered for his creative problem solving and great sense of humor.